They left the village under cover of darkness, slipping through the same gap in the walls that Lin Feng had used for years to escape Wei Chen's bullying.
He didn't look back.
There was nothing worth seeing. No fond memories, no cherished places, no loved ones to miss. His mother's grave would remain untended, but she was beyond caring. The village would go on without him, and eventually, they'd forget the cripple who'd swept their floors and emptied their chamber pots.
Good. Let them forget.
"The wastelands start past the eastern hills," Mei said, her voice low despite the distance from the village. "Once we cross the ridge, we'll be in beast territory."
"How many beasts are we likely to encounter?"
"Depends on how quiet we are and how lucky we get." She adjusted the pack on her shoulders, a heavy load of supplies she'd purchased from the caravan before it left. "Most corrupted beasts are territorial. They'll leave us alone if we don't threaten them."
"And the ones that won't?"
Mei's smile was grim. "Those are your responsibility."
They walked in silence after that, Lin Feng matching his pace to hers. His body felt different since consuming the boar. Stronger, more efficient. He didn't tire as quickly, and his senses seemed sharper. The night air carried scents he'd never noticed before: the musk of distant animals, the metallic tang of corrupted earth, something faintly sweet from flowers that bloomed only in darkness.
The hunger stirred lazily in his chest, content for now but always present.
*Patience*, he told it. *There'll be prey enough soon.*
---
Dawn found them at the edge of the wastelands.
The transition was stark. One moment they were walking through dying forest, the next they stood at the edge of a nightmare. The land ahead was twisted, broken. Trees grew at wrong angles, their bark blackened and weeping sap that glowed faintly in the pre-dawn light. The ground was cracked and dry, as if all moisture had been sucked away.
"What happened here?" Lin Feng asked.
"Divine beast territory. When a powerful enough beast claims an area, its corruption spreads into the land itself." Mei pointed toward the horizon. "See those mountains in the distance? That's where we're headed. The Jade Lily Sect built their monastery in the valleys between."
"Through this."
"Through this."
Lin Feng took a deep breath. The air tasted wrong, thick and bitter, with an undertone of something that made his hunger stir.
"Then let's go."
---
The first day was manageable.
They encountered a few lesser beasts, corrupted rabbits with too many teeth, birds that watched them with unnervingly intelligent eyes, but nothing that required Lin Feng's intervention. Mei navigated with the confidence of someone who'd made this journey before, leading them through narrow passes and hidden trails that avoided the worst danger zones.
"You know this area," Lin Feng observed as they stopped to rest near a stream of surprisingly clean water.
"I've tried to reach the ruins three times before." Mei filled her waterskin, her movements practiced and efficient. "Never made it past the first week."
"What stopped you?"
"Beasts. Weather. Once, a group of cultivators who thought I'd make a good hostage." Her voice was flat, emotionless. "There are reasons people don't travel the wastelands alone."
Lin Feng studied her profile in the afternoon light. She looked different out here. Harder somehow. More real.
"Why do you keep trying?"
"Because my mother died for the secrets hidden in those ruins." She met his eyes. "Because I won't let her death be meaningless."
There was pain behind those words, buried deep but still raw. Lin Feng recognized it, the same kind of pain he felt when he thought about his own mother's unmarked grave.
"We'll make it this time," he said.
"You sound confident."
"I am." He showed his teeth. "I'm hungry."
---
The second day brought trouble.
They were crossing a stretch of open ground when Lin Feng felt it. A presence, massive and malevolent, watching from somewhere ahead. He stopped mid-stride, every instinct screaming.
"What is it?" Mei asked.
"Something big." He scanned the broken landscape, searching for movement. "Bigger than anything I've felt before."
"Can you tell where?"
"No. It's too far away." But even as he said it, the presence shifted, focusing on them. "It knows we're here."
Mei's face went pale. "Then we need to move. Now."
They ran.
The terrain was treacherous: cracked earth, sudden drops, patches of ground that crumbled underfoot. But fear gave them speed. Lin Feng could feel the presence behind them, getting closer, closing the distance with impossible swiftness.
"There!" Mei pointed toward a ravine ahead, a crack in the earth that might offer shelter. "If we can reachâ"
The ground exploded.
Lin Feng threw himself sideways, carrying Mei with him as a massive shape erupted from beneath the surface. Dirt and rock fountained into the air, followed by something that shouldn't have existed.
A serpent. But not just any serpent. Thirty feet long at least, covered in scales that shifted through colors that hurt to look at. Its head was the size of a wagon, and its mouth was lined with teeth that spiraled inward, designed to prevent anything from escaping once caught.
"Earth Devourer," Mei whispered. "We're dead."
The serpent turned toward them, tongue flickering to taste the air.
Lin Feng felt the hunger explode into full wakefulness.
*YES*, it roared. *PREY. POWER. CONSUME.*
"Run," he said.
"What?"
"Run!" He shoved Mei toward the ravine. "I'll hold it off!"
"You'll die!"
"Maybe." He turned to face the serpent, feeling his body shift into something more primal. "But maybe not."
The Earth Devourer studied him with alien intelligence. It had been hunting for prey, expecting easy meat. Instead, it found something that made it curious.
Lin Feng smiled.
"Come on, then. Let's see who devours who."
---
The fight was brutal.
The serpent was faster than anything its size should be, striking with blinding speed, its jaws snapping shut where Lin Feng had been heartbeats before. He dodged, rolled, leaped, using every scrap of the boar's power just to stay alive.
But staying alive wasn't the same as winning.
*I need to touch it*, he realized, narrowly avoiding a tail sweep that would have pulverized his bones. *But if I get close enough to touch it, those jaws willâ*
The serpent's head slammed into the ground where he'd been standing. Lin Feng felt the impact through his feet, felt his balance waver.
A moment of vulnerability.
The serpent struck.
Time seemed to slow. Lin Feng saw the mouth opening, saw the spiraling teeth gleaming with venom, saw death rushing toward him.
And then something inside him *snapped*.
The hunger stopped asking permission.
Lin Feng's hand shot out, not toward the body but toward the serpent's own striking head. His fingers closed on its snout, just below the eyes, and he *pulled*.
The serpent screamed, a sound that shook the earth, that made rocks crack and the sky seem to tremble. Its corruption flooded into Lin Feng, a tide of power far beyond anything he'd consumed before.
It was too much. Way too much.
His core strained, stretched, threatened to shatter under the pressure. He could feel himself dissolving, his identity fragmenting under the weight of the serpent's essence.
*Stop*, he commanded the hunger. *We need to stop!*
But the hunger didn't listen. It kept pulling, kept consuming, kept taking everything the serpent had to offer.
Lin Feng felt his consciousness beginning to fade.
*If I pass out, it'll kill me. I need to...*
With the last of his strength, he released the serpent and threw himself backward.
The connection severed with a shock that left him gasping. The serpent reeled, disoriented by the partial consumption, and Lin Feng scrambled away on hands and knees.
They stared at each other, beast and Devourer, both wounded, both dangerous, both waiting to see what the other would do.
Then the serpent turned and burrowed back into the earth.
Lin Feng collapsed onto his back, staring at the sky, feeling the stolen power raging through his veins.
---
"Lin Feng!"
Mei's voice came from far away. He felt hands on his chest, felt something cool being poured into his mouth.
"Drink. It's a stabilizing tonic. Drink!"
He swallowed automatically, barely tasting the bitter liquid. The fire in his veins began to subside, the chaos settling into something almost manageable.
"That was insane," Mei was saying. "Absolutely insane. That thing should have killed you. Should have killed both of us. How are you still alive?"
"I don't know." His voice came out as a croak. "The hunger... it took over. I couldn't stop it."
"You partially consumed an Earth Devourer." Her voice was shaking. "Do you understand what that means? Those things are a step below divine beasts. They've killed Foundation cultivators. Core Formation cultivators. You shouldn't have been able to touch its essence, let alone take part of it."
Lin Feng forced himself to sit up. His body felt wrong, too heavy and too light at the same time, thrumming with power that hadn't had time to settle.
"How much did I take?"
"I have no idea. More than the boar. More than the wolf. Maybe more than both combined." Mei's hands were still shaking as she helped him to his feet. "We need to find shelter. You need time to digest this."
"The serpentâ"
"Is gone. You wounded it badly enough that it fled." She laughed, a slightly hysterical sound. "An Earth Devourer, running from a cripple with three days of cultivation experience. The heavens must be going mad."
Lin Feng managed a weak smile.
"Let them."
---
They found shelter in a cave network not far from where the battle had occurred.
The caves were natural formations, untouched by corruption, cool and dark and safe. Mei set up camp while Lin Feng sat against the cave wall, trying to process what he'd absorbed.
The serpent's power was different from the boar's or the wolf's. Those had been simple: strength, speed, healing. This was something else entirely.
*Earth*, he realized. *The serpent could move through earth like water. Could sense vibrations. Couldâ*
He pressed his palm against the cave floor.
Information flooded his mind. He could feel the structure of the rock around them, sense the tunnels and chambers that branched off in all directions. He could feel the slight vibrations of Mei's footsteps, the deeper rumbles of things moving through the earth miles away.
"Incredible," he breathed.
"What is?" Mei asked.
"I can feel the earth. Through the rock." He looked up at her, wonder mixed with unease. "The serpent's abilities. I didn't just take its power. I took its *senses*."
Mei's eyes widened. "That shouldn't be possible. Absorbing raw power is one thing, but inheriting sensory abilities suggests you're integrating at a much deeper level than the scripture describes."
"Is that bad?"
"I don't know." She sat down across from him, her expression troubled. "The original God Eater consumed hundreds of divine beasts over his lifetime. The legends say that by the end, he was barely recognizable as human. More monster than man."
Lin Feng thought about the hunger's behavior during the fight, how it had seized control, how he'd barely been able to stop it.
"You think that will happen to me."
"I think it could." Her voice was gentle but honest. "Every beast you consume changes you, Lin Feng. Not just physically, but mentally. The wolf gave you predatory instincts. The boar gave you aggression. What will the serpent give you?"
He didn't have an answer.
---
They stayed in the caves for two days while Lin Feng's body adjusted to its new power.
The process was grueling. His bones ached as they reshaped themselves, becoming denser, stronger. His skin toughened until it felt like leather. His senses sharpened until the slightest sound or vibration became crystal clear.
But the mental changes were worse.
Dreams plagued him. Dreams of darkness and earth and the slow patient hunting of things that moved through stone. He woke more than once with the taste of dirt in his mouth, his fingernails bloody from scratching at the cave walls.
"The serpent's memories," Mei explained during one of his lucid moments. "You're absorbing fragments of its consciousness along with its power. It should fade in time."
"How long?"
"Days. Weeks. Maybe longer." She pressed a damp cloth to his forehead. "The soul medicine I know can help accelerate the integration, but there's no way to eliminate it entirely."
Lin Feng closed his eyes, feeling the serpent's ancient hunger twisting through his thoughts.
"Do what you can."
Mei worked through the nights, applying poultices that smelled of herbs he didn't recognize, chanting words in a language older than any he'd heard. Her soul medicine wasn't cultivation, but it was powerful in its own right, a way of touching the essence of living things without the heavens' blessing.
Slowly, gradually, the worst of the symptoms faded.
---
On the third day, Lin Feng stood at the cave entrance and watched the sun rise.
His body had changed. The differences were subtle, his muscles slightly more defined, his movements slightly more fluid, but he could feel them in his bones. He was stronger now. Faster. More dangerous.
And the hunger was stronger too.
"Ready to move?" Mei asked from behind him.
"Almost." He turned to face her. "Thank you. For helping me through that."
"Thank me when we reach the ruins." But she smiled slightly as she said it. "How do you feel?"
Lin Feng considered the question.
"Hungry," he admitted. "But in control." He stepped out into the morning light. "Let's go find that corpse."
They descended from the caves into the wasteland below, two small figures moving through a landscape of corruption and danger.
Behind them, deep beneath the earth, the wounded serpent stirred in its den.
It would remember this human who had dared to consume its essence.
And when the time came, it would have its revenge.
